4TH APRIL 2003
ST. ISIDORE
DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH (c.556?--636)
LIFE:
The 76 years of Isidore's life were a time of conflict and growth for the
Church in Spain. The Visigoths had invaded the land a century and a half earlier and
shortly before Isidore's birth they set up their own capital. They were
AriansChristians who said Christ was not God. Thus Spain was split in two: One people
(Catholic Romans) struggled with another (Arian Goths).
Isidore reunited Spain, making it a center of culture and learning, a teacher and
guide for other European countries whose culture was also threatened by barbarian
invaders.
Son of Severianus and Theodora, known for their piety. Brother of Saint Fulgentius,
Saint Florentina, and Saint Leander of Seville, , he was educated (severely) by his
elder brother, whom he succeeded as bishop of Seville.
An amazingly learned man, he was sometimes called "The Schoolmaster of the Middle
Ages" because the encyclopedia he wrote was used as a textbook for nine centuries. He
required seminaries to be built in every diocese, wrote a Rule for religious orders
and founded schools that taught every branch of learning. Isidore wrote numerous
books, including a dictionary, an encyclopedia, a history of Goths and a history of
the worldbeginning with creation! He completed the Mozarabic liturgy, which is still
in use in Toledo, Spain. For all these reasons Isidore (as well as several other
saints) has been suggested as patron of the Internet.
He continued his austerities even as he approached 80. During the last six months of
his life, he increased his charities so much that his house was crowded from morning
till night with the poor of the countryside.
PATRONAGE:
computer technicians, computer users, computers, the Internet, schoolchildren,
students
REFLECTION:
*The suffering of adversity does not degrade you but
exalt u. Human tribulation teaches you; does not destroy you. The more we
r afflicted in this world the greater is our assurance for the next .
The more we sorrow in the present , the greater will be our joy in the
future**(st Isidore)
Comment:
Our country can well use Isidore's spirit of combining learning and holiness. Loving,
understanding knowledge can heal and bring a broken people back together. We are not
barbarians like the invaders of Isidore's Spain. But people who are swamped by riches
and overwhelmed by scientific and technological advances can lose much of their
understanding love for one another. So vast was Isidore's knowledge that some moderns
have proposed him as the patron of Internet users.
**O Jesus ! Who for love of me,
Didst bear Thy Cross to Calvary ;
In Thy sweet mercy grant to me
To suffer & die with Thee...**
S.THOMAS
NOTTINGHAM
ENGLAND
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